Saturday, November 21, 2009

Recurring dreams

I woke up at 4:30 this morning, following a vivid dream about a house. I have had recurring dreams about houses for years. This might seem like a very boring dream subject--no flying, no adventure, no danger--but my house dreams are always deeply satisfying. They always contain a sense of mystery and anticipation.

My house dreams used to always be about my great-grandmother's house, although the dream houses never looked like her house. Now my house dreams are always about my own house, although the dream houses still never look like 916 Laurel Lane. The common element to ALL of my house dreams is that I find new spaces in the house. I open a door that has been there all along, one which I just hadn't noticed, and when I open it there is a whole new room to my house.

Before I went back to college, I used to dream about Grandma Polly's house a lot. I was in her house, and it was too small, too cramped, I felt confined. Then I would open a door and there would be this room, and I had all the space I needed. I think going to college in my 30s gave me some space I needed. After I had been in college for a while, I stopped dreaming about Grandma Polly's house, and I thought I had outgrown my house dreams. That made me a little sad, but it was worth it to have a college degree.

But lately I've been having them again. Usually when I wake up and remember a house dream, like this morning, I know that the dream is very familiar. I think I dream them many times without remembering them. This morning's dream was about a huge house - 5 or 6 stories tall, with 2 levels of basements, and 2 different levels of attics. It was built in the style of the open-beam, big-timbered lodge up on Scouter's Mountain (like I said, the dream houses do not resemble the house I actually live in).

I was exploring the basements, which were very satisfying. They had sooooo much space to store camping equipment. I had lots! Then I went up to the main floors, where the rooms were huge and filled with things that were interesting, aesthetically pleasing, and also very useful. I meant to get up into the attics, but I didn't get around to it. There was so much to hold my interest on the main floor.

Then I woke up. I wonder what was in those attics? I'm curious, but not worried. I know I'll dream about them again.

PS: I think it's fun to go to the online Dream Dictionary to see what the symbols in my dreams might suggest. I don't always agree with their definitions, but it's interesting to see what they have to say.

I read your post and thought.... when she's finding or exploring new rooms it is as if she is finding or exploring new things about herself. Then I went to the website link and typed "houses" into the search, and discovered they said just about the same thing. I should be a dream interpreter! :)

I often have dreams that some of my kids are young again. The other night one of my brothers was a little child, too. I haven't figured out what that means yet.

Why I Write

Kathy Haynie writes as witness to the mundane and miraculous, the holy and hilarious. She is matriarch to an astonishingly large blended family: 1 husband, 9 children, and 25 grandchildren, which attests to possibility, complexity, agony, and joy. But most especially, joy.